


Falling Together

by Bookfish



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Boys Kissing, Drabble, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, First Meetings, I wrote this in one sitting and it's probably bad, M/M, One Shot, Pirates, Pirates AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-08 16:54:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14109837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookfish/pseuds/Bookfish
Summary: Just a Klance Historical(ish) Pirates short that I wrote for a friend :)





	Falling Together

The shifting of weight in the bed drew Keith out of his shallow slumber, “Lance?”

“Go back to sleep, Amor. It’s nothing.” There was a rustling of sheets and the press of warm lips to his neck before he could hear the sound of Lance’s boots on the wooden floor followed by the opening and closing of the cabin door. In the silence after, Keith rolled over sluggishly and sighed, resigned to waiting for his partner’s return. His mind slowly slid down memory lane while he tried to keep himself awake.

_In hindsight, their first meeting hadn’t been very romantic. Was there anything romantic about a pistol being shoved in your face? Keith would admit that no… there was nothing romantic about that. He would also admit that the Latino pirate shouting at him had the prettiest blue eyes he’d ever seen and he’d been a little too shell shocked to try to comprehend the stream of angry Spanish he was being bombarded with._

_At some point, he’d managed to tear his attention away from the pistol and pretty face and stutter his way through an attempt at trying to figure out why there was a pistol in his face. But by then, the other pirate had been so exasperated that he’d just thrown his hands up in the air and walked away. Which left Keith to wonder what had just happened until the rest of his crew came back._

_Pidge’s running theory, when Keith asked about it, was that Keith had unknowingly turned one of his permanent scowls at him in a way that had given the other pirate the idea that he’d wanted to start a fight. That idea had made Keith start avoiding going on land when they docked. Because really, he couldn’t afford his face accidentally starting a fight that got him killed. He really didn’t want his epithet to read, “Got Killed For Scowling Too Much”. Pidge was not above putting humiliating things on the crew’s graves. Keith did not want to give Pidge ammunition for his gravestone. Not if he could help it. So, he stopped going on land unless Shiro personally dragged him off the ship._

_Thanks to Shiro refusing to let Keith hide on the ship every time they docked, the Latino pirate and Keith did, in fact, meet again. Keith had hoped that hiding in the corner of the tavern would keep attention away from him. That had worked until Shiro had gotten drunk and bragged to some other men about Keith’s knife throwing skills. And with that, he’d been dragged into the center of the tavern and had some men set up a makeshift target. With a tavern’s worth of eyes on him and Shiro egging him on, Keith made the mistake of letting himself relax and start showing off. He’d been in the middle of a trick throw when those blue eyes and long tan legs had sauntered into the room with several others close behind. Their eyes had locked and Keith had felt the moment his knife slipped through his fingers and ended up stabbed directly into his boot nearly taking off a toe. When a scowl etched its way onto the Latino’s face, Keith knew for sure he’d left just as much of a lasting impression on the pirate as the pirate had on him. Great. Just what he had always wanted. An enemy. A very, very attractive enemy._

_Luckily for him, Shiro had suddenly been very interested in the knife sticking out of his boot and Keith had gotten half dragged back into a corner so Shiro could triple check that he hadn’t just taken one step closer to having a wooden leg. At least, like that he could halfway fade into the background and ignore the infrequent glares being sent in his direction when he was pretending to be busy cleaning his knife. And eventually, Shiro had decided that it was time to head back for the ship, despite the fact that Shiro couldn’t walk straight. So, Keith had had the distraction of trying to hold the taller man upright all the way back to the ship to keep his mind off his now permanent problem. A problem that had pretty eyes and a great body and… Nope, he was not going there._

_At least when Shiro slept the alcohol off he didn’t seem to remember what had happened and aside from having to buy new boots, Keith could pretend nothing had happened. Well, he could pretend nothing had happened until he ran into the mysterious pirate with pretty eyes again. And it was just irony that it was Shiro’s fault again. Truthfully, he couldn’t blame Shiro for the mutiny, or the terrible division of the crew that had lead to Shiro, Pidge, and Keith resigning from the crew of the Night Blade. But he could blame Shiro for forgetting that day in the tavern, because it was Shiro who signed the three of them up to join the crew of the León Azul. Captained by the one and only Captain Leandro Vasquez… blue eyes himself._

_“No, no, no, no! He is not coming on my ship.” Keith hadn’t even gotten a chance to open his mouth before the Captain had started scowling at him. “Absolutely not.”_

_“Good thing I didn’t want to come on your ship anyway.” The words slipped out before he could stop himself._

_He’d already spun around to leave when Shiro had grabbed his arm and held him in place. “You said you needed crew members. It’s all three of us, or none of us.”_

_For what felt like ages, a silence hung over them. The Captain, Shiro, Pidge, and Keith who still refused to turn around and face the Captain again… he didn’t need to turn around to imagine the silent argument that Shiro was having with the Captain. He could feel the Captain’s irritated sigh in his bones, hated the tone that laced the words that followed. “Fine. But if he so much as breathes in the wrong direction, he’s off my ship.”_

_When they moved to leave, Keith muttered to Pidge. “I still don’t know what I did to make him hate me so much.”_

The sound of shouting and running steps on the deck above him drew Keith out of his memories briefly. He probably ought to get up. But Lance would have called him out of bed if it was truly important. From the rise and fall of the ship, he guessed it was just a change in weather. So, he rolled over and let his mind drift again.

_Drifting back through those first tense months. He’d avoided the Captain unless the Captain approached him directly. And that almost never happened. He stayed out of the Captain’s way whenever they docked. Life had become a game of keeping his head down, avoiding eye contact, and keeping his mouth shut. It made him miss his old crew. If it weren’t for Pidge and Shiro he would’ve left after a month. But Pidge at least helped him by making conversation to fill the silences. And Shiro was polite enough to not prod about why Captain Leandro acted like Keith had personally insulted him and everyone in his family._

_Looking back, it was easy to see where things had finally shifted. Keith had heard whispers of mutiny. Someone had been dumb enough to bring it up to him and think he’d go along with it. Whether he liked the Captain or not… he wasn’t about to jeopardize Pidge and Shiro. He’d kept his mouth shut, bided his time, and slipped a tip to the First Mate in the middle of the night under the guise of going on deck to catch some fresh air. The next day, he’d watched in silence as the would-be-mutineers walked the plank. When it was over, the Captain had turned and given him the first look since they’d met that wasn’t purely hostile. He wouldn’t call it friendly, but it was friendlier than every other look he’d gotten._

_The next major shift had been in a fight against an enemy ship. Keith couldn’t recall if they’d been other pirates or some government… it wasn’t like it mattered that much in the end. Over the course of the fight, they both saved each other several times over… by the end of it, there was the inkling beginning of respect in the looks they exchanged._

_And after that, the glares and insults had started to tilt into teasing and banter. Keith loosened up and opened up. He no longer felt like he was on eggshells with the rest of the crew. The First Mate turned out to be a trustworthy fellow, or at least… trustworthy for a pirate. And somehow, earning the trust and friendship of the First Mate meant being tentatively welcomed into the edges of the Captain’s own circle of trusted crew members. When banter and teasing turned into the first hints of flirting, Keith thought he was imagining things. Of course, by then he knew he was so gay for Captain Leandro. Who could resist that white, white smile and that perfect face? Not Keith. But all things considered, Keith was not capable of expressing himself when it came to romance, so he just shoved his feelings down and tried to hide the soft, soft looks that found their way onto his face whenever Leandro was on his mind. Pidge could smirk knowingly all she wanted, Keith was not going to jeopardize his earned position in the crew by pursuing his feelings. Feelings could go away… right?_

_Wrong._

_After over a year of dancing around each other, it was obvious to everyone in the crew except Keith and Lance that they were both too far gone. There were running bets as to when the Sharpshooter and Samurai would finally admit their feelings and how it would go down. Nobody accounted for alcohol and Pidge being a mischievous gremlin. During one stint on land, Pidge somehow talked Hunk and Allura into helping her prank Keith and Lance. When both of them were just drunk enough to not stop and think about being asked to follow a friend to talk in another room, they found themselves locked in the tavern storage closet. It was not funny. Considering Lance’s initial reaction was anger and Keith’s initial reaction was embarrassment._

_“I am going to make them all walk the plank when they let us out!” Lance hadn’t stopped shouting for the past 10 minutes and Keith was starting to get a headache from listening. “This is mutiny! HUNK! I TRUSTED YOU, HUNK!”_

_Groaning, Keith let himself lean against the far wall and glare at the sputtering lantern that was casting shadows across the dark closet. “I don’t think they’re listening, Captain.”_

_Lance suddenly fell silent. Which made Keith hyper aware of the fact that there really wasn’t that much space in the closet… because in the quiet he was acutely aware ofLance’s breathing and the pounding of his own heart. “You know you can call me Lance, Keith.”_

_“I… okay… Lance.” Keith curled his arms protectively over his chest, as if that would keep Lance from noticing the way his heart was racing. He was very aware of it when Lance suddenly crossed the space between them and was close enough to touch. Just a hand’s length away… close enough to almost feel the warmth radiating off him. Close enough to smell the odor of alcohol and cologne that clung to his skin._

_“Keith?” His voice was so soft. And his hand was so gentle, suddenly cupping Keith’s chin and tilting his face up so he couldn’t avoid Lance’s gaze. That intense blue gaze that glued him to the spot just the same way it had when they’d first met. Lance looked so thoughtful, so nostalgic, Keith didn’t dare speak. He didn’t want to break the charged silence between them. It was Lance who spoke again. “You know…” His thumb stroked along Keith’s chin and then brushed over his lower lip. “When I first saw you… you were so pretty, it made me irrationally angry. And then you scowled at me and I thought… ‘How can such a pretty person make such a terrible face and still look pretty?’ It’s not fair.”_

_Keith licked his lips and started to open his mouth, but before he could make a sound there were lips against his and all he could do was gasp softly into the kiss before he reached out to grab Lance’s shirt and pull the other man deeper. For a long moment, all he was aware of was hot lips and warm hands and the smell and sound of Lance… and then the closet door banged open and they jerked apart like they’d been burned._

_“Oh…” Shiro looked like he’d suddenly solved a complicated puzzle. Behind him, Hunk, Pidge, and Allura were exchange looks that were a mix of guilty and pleased._

_“Hunk! I’m going to have your head for this.” Lance suddenly seemed to remember his anger and marched out of the closet to argue with his First Mate while Keith slumped to the floor and tried to quiet his racing heart._

_But, regardless of the following arguments between Lance and the crew… and the ribbing Keith endured… before the night was over, Lance invited Keith to join him in his cabin for the night. And after the first night… Keith became a permanent fixture in Lance’s cabin… the same way he had become a permanent fixture in Lance’s heart._

When the cabin door banged back open, Keith opened one eye, still only half asleep. “Storm?” He murmured as he watched a damp Lance kick off his boots and change into dry clothes.

“Yeah. Nothing to worry about.” Finally, finally, he slipped back into the bed and wrapped an arm around Keith. “What’re you smiling for?” He murmured as he settled his head on his pillow where he could see his partner’s face.

“You.” Keith whispered before he curled into Lance’s chest and finally drifted back to sleep.

Lance could only smile and press his face into Keith’s hair as he answered the unspoken words. “I love you, too.”


End file.
